Form template matching to populate forms displayed by client devices

ABSTRACT

A computing system includes a client device and a form template server. The client device has a display associated therewith to display an application page from an application, and generate a screenshot of the form. The application page includes a form requiring data to be filled in by a user. The form template server compares a form template extracted from the screenshot to a private form template database for a match. The private form template database includes private form templates from different applications, with each private form template having user data associated therewith previously filled in for the user. The client device then populates the form on the display with the data from the matched private form template.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to client devices, and more particularly,to populating a form displayed by a client device based on a matchedform template.

BACKGROUND

Browsers allow clients to access web resources. Web resources includeweb applications that can be accessed through a web interface. Webresources also include Software as a Service (SaaS) applications inwhich a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them availableto customers over the Internet. Often times accessing these resourcesrequires users to fill out forms.

Many times different forms require the same data to be filled in by theuser across different applications. Within a browser accessing a singleapplication, for example, data entries by the user may be stored toassist the user populate the same form a next time. However, it becomeschallenging to collect user data and to use this data when users accessdifferent applications using different browsers.

SUMMARY

A computing system includes a client device and a form template server.The client device has a display associated therewith and is configuredto display an application page from an application, and to generate ascreenshot of the application page. The application page includes a formrequiring data to be filled in by a user.

The form template server is configured to compare a form templateextracted from the screenshot to a private form template database for amatch. The private form template database includes a plurality ofprivate form templates from a plurality of different applications, witheach private form template having user data associated therewithpreviously filled in for the user. The client device is furtherconfigured to populate the form on the display with the data from thematched private form template.

The form template server advantageously provides a match from theprivate form template database even if the forms corresponding to theprivate form templates are different from the displayed form beingpopulated. In addition, since the private form template matching isperformed at the form template server, the private form templatematching may be performed for the user even if the user later operates adifferent client device.

The client device includes an embedded browser, and the applicationproviding the form being displayed by the client device comprises a webapplication that is accessed via the embedded web browser. Since theembedded browser is embedded within a native application within theclient device, this allows the capability of the application to beenhanced without modifying the application. Instead, logic outside ofthe embedded browser allows the native application to control aprocessor to detect the form on the application page, to generate ascreenshot of the application page that is then used to extract the formtemplate, and to populate the displayed form with data from the matchedprivate form template.

A form template analyzer is used to extract the form template from thescreenshot. The form template analyzer may be within the client device,or alternatively, may be within the form template server. For etherlocation, the form template analyzer is configured to extract labels andform field names from the form, correlate the labels with the form fieldnames, and use the correlated labels and form field names to extract theform template.

In addition to the private form template database, the form templateserver may also include a public form template database comprising aplurality of public form templates from the plurality of differentapplications from different users. Each public form template includeslabels and form field names without form field values. The form templateanalyzer is further configured to extract labels and form field namesfrom the form, and match the label and form field names to one of thepublic form templates. The matched public form template is to be used asthe extracted form template from the screenshot. This helps to speed upthe matching since the form template analyzer does not have to correlatethe labels with the form fields for the displayed form since this hasalready been performed for a different user accessing the sameapplication.

The extracted form template includes labels and form field names withoutform field values. The plurality of private form templates from theplurality of different applications include labels, form field names andform field values, with the form field values corresponding to the datapreviously filled in for the user.

The plurality of private form templates from the plurality of differentapplications include shared labels. The form template server is furtherconfigured to group together different form field names corresponding toeach shared label. The comparing by the form template server for a matchincludes matching a label from the extracted form template to one of theshared labels, and then matching the form field name for the label fromthe extracted form template to one of the form field names in thegrouped together different form field names.

If more than one private form template matches the extracted formtemplate, then the form template server may be further configured todetermine a match based on a score having been assigned to each of themore than one private form matched templates. Instead of a score or incombination with a score, the form template server may be furtherconfigured to determine a match based on a context of the user operatingthe client device.

Another aspect is directed to a method for operating a computing systemcomprising a client device and a form template server. The methodincludes operating the client device to display an application page froman application, and to generate a screenshot of the form. Theapplication page includes a form requiring data to be filled in by auser.

The method further includes operating the form template server tocompare a form template extracted from the screenshot to a private formtemplate database for a match. The private form template databasecomprises a plurality of private form templates from a plurality ofdifferent applications, with each private form template having differentuser data associated therewith previously filled in for the user. Theclient device is then operated to populate the form being displayed withthe data from the matched private form template.

Yet another aspect is directed to a method for operating a clientcomputing device within a computing system comprising a form templateserver that includes a private form template database comprising aplurality of private form templates from a plurality of differentapplications, with each private form template having user dataassociated therewith previously filled in for a user. The methodcomprises displaying an application page from an application, with theapplication page including a form requiring data to be filled in by theuser, and generating a screenshot of the application page. Thescreenshot of the application page is transmitted to the form templateserver. The method further includes receiving, from the form templateserver, a matched private form template based on the form templateserver comparing a form template extracted from the screenshot to theprivate form template database for a match. The form on the display ispopulated with the data from the matched private form template.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network environment of computing devicesin which various aspects of the disclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computing device useful for practicing anembodiment of the client machines or the remote machines illustrated inFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a computing system for populating a formdisplayed by a client device based on a private matched form templateprovided by a form template server in which various aspects of thedisclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 4 is an example private form template from the private formtemplate database illustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a general flowchart illustrating a method for populating aform displayed by a client device illustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a more detailed flowchart illustrating a method for populatinga form displayed by a client device illustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for operating a clientcomputing device within the computing system illustrated in FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present description is made with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which exemplary embodiments are shown. However, manydifferent embodiments may be used, and thus the description should notbe construed as limited to the particular embodiments set forth herein.Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will bethorough and complete. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art upon reading thefollowing disclosure, various aspects described herein may be embodiedas a device, a method or a computer program product (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable medium having computer executableinstruction for performing the noted operations or steps). Accordingly,those aspects may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software andhardware aspects.

Furthermore, such aspects may take the form of a computer programproduct stored by one or more computer-readable storage media havingcomputer-readable program code, or instructions, embodied in or on thestorage media. Any suitable computer readable storage media may beutilized, including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices,magnetic storage devices, and/or any combination thereof.

Referring initially to FIG. 1, a non-limiting network environment 101 inwhich various aspects of the disclosure may be implemented includes oneor more client machines 102A-102N, one or more remote machines106A-106N, one or more networks 104, 104′, and one or more appliances108 installed within the computing environment 101. The client machines102A-102N communicate with the remote machines 106A-106N via thenetworks 104, 104′.

In some embodiments, the client machines 102A-102N communicate with theremote machines 106A-106N via an intermediary appliance 108. Theillustrated appliance 108 is positioned between the networks 104, 104′and may be referred to as a network interface or gateway. In someembodiments, the appliance 108 may operate as an application deliverycontroller (ADC) to provide clients with access to business applicationsand other data deployed in a datacenter, the cloud, or delivered asSoftware as a Service (SaaS) across a range of client devices, and/orprovide other functionality such as load balancing, etc. In someembodiments, multiple appliances 108 may be used, and the appliance(s)108 may be deployed as part of the network 104 and/or 104′.

The client machines 102A-102N may be generally referred to as clientmachines 102, local machines 102, clients 102, client nodes 102, clientcomputers 102, client devices 102, computing devices 102, endpoints 102,or endpoint nodes 102. The remote machines 106A-106N may be generallyreferred to as servers 106 or a server farm 106. In some embodiments, aclient device 102 may have the capacity to function as both a clientnode seeking access to resources provided by a server 106 and as aserver 106 providing access to hosted resources for other client devices102A-102N. The networks 104, 104′ may be generally referred to as anetwork 104. The networks 104 may be configured in any combination ofwired and wireless networks.

A server 106 may be any server type such as, for example: a file server;an application server; a web server; a proxy server; an appliance; anetwork appliance; a gateway; an application gateway; a gateway server;a virtualization server; a deployment server; a Secure Sockets LayerVirtual Private Network (SSL VPN) server; a firewall; a web server; aserver executing an active directory; or a server executing anapplication acceleration program that provides firewall functionality,application functionality, or load balancing functionality.

A server 106 may execute, operate or otherwise provide an applicationthat may be any one of the following: software; a program; executableinstructions; a virtual machine; a hypervisor; a web browser; aweb-based client; a client-server application; a thin-client computingclient; an ActiveX control; a Java applet; software related to voiceover internet protocol (VoIP) communications like a soft IP telephone;an application for streaming video and/or audio; an application forfacilitating real-time-data communications; a HTTP client; a FTP client;an Oscar client; a Telnet client; or any other set of executableinstructions.

In some embodiments, a server 106 may execute a remote presentationclient or other client or program that uses a thin-client or aremote-display protocol to capture display output generated by anapplication executing on a server 106 and transmits the applicationdisplay output to a client device 102.

In yet other embodiments, a server 106 may execute a virtual machineproviding, to a user of a client device 102, access to a computingenvironment. The client device 102 may be a virtual machine. The virtualmachine may be managed by, for example, a hypervisor, a virtual machinemanager (VMM), or any other hardware virtualization technique within theserver 106.

In some embodiments, the network 104 may be: a local-area network (LAN);a metropolitan area network (MAN); a wide area network (WAN); a primarypublic network 104; and a primary private network 104. Additionalembodiments may include a network 104 of mobile telephone networks thatuse various protocols to communicate among mobile devices. For shortrange communications within a WLAN, the protocols may include 802.11,Bluetooth, and Near Field Communication (NFC).

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of a computing device 100 useful forpracticing an embodiment of client devices 102 or servers 106. Thecomputing device 100 includes one or more processors 103, volatilememory 122 (e.g., random access memory (RAM)), non-volatile memory 128,user interface (UI) 123, one or more communications interfaces 118, anda communications bus 150.

The non-volatile memory 128 may include: one or more hard disk drives(HDDs) or other magnetic or optical storage media; one or more solidstate drives (SSDs), such as a flash drive or other solid state storagemedia; one or more hybrid magnetic and solid state drives; and/or one ormore virtual storage volumes, such as a cloud storage, or a combinationof such physical storage volumes and virtual storage volumes or arraysthereof.

The user interface 123 may include a graphical user interface (GUI) 124(e.g., a touchscreen, a display, etc.) and one or more input/output(I/O) devices 126 (e.g., a mouse, a keyboard, a microphone, one or morespeakers, one or more cameras, one or more biometric scanners, one ormore environmental sensors, and one or more accelerometers, etc.).

The non-volatile memory 128 stores an operating system 115, one or moreapplications 116, and data 117 such that, for example, computerinstructions of the operating system 115 and/or the applications 116 areexecuted by processor(s) 103 out of the volatile memory 122. In someembodiments, the volatile memory 122 may include one or more types ofRAM and/or a cache memory that may offer a faster response time than amain memory. Data may be entered using an input device of the GUI 124 orreceived from the I/O device(s) 126. Various elements of the computer100 may communicate via the communications bus 150.

The illustrated computing device 100 is shown merely as an exampleclient device or server, and may be implemented by any computing orprocessing environment with any type of machine or set of machines thatmay have suitable hardware and/or software capable of operating asdescribed herein.

The processor(s) 103 may be implemented by one or more programmableprocessors to execute one or more executable instructions, such as acomputer program, to perform the functions of the system. As usedherein, the term “processor” describes circuitry that performs afunction, an operation, or a sequence of operations. The function,operation, or sequence of operations may be hard coded into thecircuitry or soft coded by way of instructions held in a memory deviceand executed by the circuitry. A processor may perform the function,operation, or sequence of operations using digital values and/or usinganalog signals.

In some embodiments, the processor can be embodied in one or moreapplication specific integrated circuits (ASICs), microprocessors,digital signal processors (DSPs), graphics processing units (GPUs),microcontrollers, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmablelogic arrays (PLAs), multi-core processors, or general-purpose computerswith associated memory.

The processor may be analog, digital or mixed-signal. In someembodiments, the processor may be one or more physical processors, orone or more virtual (e.g., remotely located or cloud) processors. Aprocessor including multiple processor cores and/or multiple processorsmay provide functionality for parallel, simultaneous execution ofinstructions or for parallel, simultaneous execution of one instructionon more than one piece of data.

The communications interfaces 118 may include one or more interfaces toenable the computing device 100 to access a computer network such as aLocal Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Personal AreaNetwork (PAN), or the Internet through a variety of wired and/orwireless connections, including cellular connections.

In described embodiments, the computing device 100 may execute anapplication on behalf of a user of a client device. For example, thecomputing device 100 may execute one or more virtual machines managed bya hypervisor. Each virtual machine may provide an execution sessionwithin which applications execute on behalf of a user or a clientdevice, such as a hosted desktop session. The computing device 100 mayalso execute a terminal services session to provide a hosted desktopenvironment. The computing device 100 may provide access to a remotecomputing environment including one or more applications, one or moredesktop applications, and one or more desktop sessions in which one ormore applications may execute.

Additional descriptions of a computing device 100 configured as a clientdevice 102 or as a server 106, or as an appliance intermediary to aclient device 102 and a server 106, and operations thereof, may be foundin U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,176,744 and 9,538,345, which are incorporated hereinby reference in their entirety. The '744 and '345 patents are bothassigned to the current assignee of the present disclosure.

Referring initially to FIG. 3, a computing system 20 includes a clientdevice 30 and a form template server 50. The client device 30 has adisplay 32 associated therewith and is configured to display anapplication page 40 from an application, and to generate a screenshot 54of the application page 40. The application page 40 includes a form 46requiring data to be filled in by a user.

The form template server 50 is configured to compare a form template 56extracted from the screenshot 54 to a private form template database 60for a match. The private form template database 60 includes a pluralityof private form templates from a plurality of different applications,with each private form template having user data associated therewithpreviously filled in for the user. The client device 30 is furtherconfigured to populate the form on the display 32 with the data from thematched private form template.

The form 46 may advantageously be populated using data from other formspreviously filled in by the user even if the forms are different fromthe displayed form 46. In addition, since the private form templatematching is performed at the form template server 50, the private formtemplate matching may be performed for the user even if the user lateroperates a different client device.

The client device 30 includes an embedded browser 34, and theapplication providing the form 46 being displayed by the client device30 comprises a web application that is accessed via the embedded webbrowser 34. The web application may be a Software as a Service (SaaS)application, for example.

The embedded browser 34 is a browser embedded within a nativeapplication 36. For example, Citrix Receiver and Citrix Workspace Appare programs that are installed on client devices 30.

Since the embedded browser 34 is embedded within a native application 36within the client device 30, this allows the capability of theapplication to be enhanced without modifying the application. Instead,logic outside of the embedded browser 34 allows the native application36 to control the processor 38 so as to detect the form 46 on theapplication page 40, and to generate a screenshot 54 of the form 46 thatis then used to determine the extract form template 56.

A form template analyzer 52 is used to generate the extracted formtemplate 56 from the screenshot 54 of the displayed form 40. The formtemplate analyzer 52 may be within the client device 30, oralternatively, may be within the form template server 50. For discussionpurposes, the form template analyzer 52 is shown within the formtemplate server 50. Regardless of the location, the form templateanalyzer 52 is configured to extract labels and form field names fromthe form 46, correlate the labels with the form field names, and use thecorrelated labels and form field names to extract the form template. Theform template analyzer 52 includes a text recognizer having arecognition algorithm that recognizes labels and form field names, andcorrelates the labels and form field names.

The form template analyzer 52 is able to match an extracted formtemplate 56 from the current application being accessed with a privateform template 62 that is from a completely different application. As anexample, there is a first application having a form where user data hasalready been entered and a second application having a form requiringuser data to be entered.

The first and second applications are different from one another, butthe data to be entered for the form in the second application is thesame as the data already entered for the form in the first application.The private form template database 60 includes a private form template62 that include the data previously entered for the first application.

As an example, the data required for the form 46 is the user's address.The label may be “Street” for both of the applications but the formfield name for the form in the first application is “ST1”. A traditionalbrowser stores the form field name along with the form field valuefilled in by the user. But when the user goes to the form in the secondapplication, the form field name is now “ST”. The traditional browser isnot able to match data from the form in the first application to theform in the second application since there is not a one-to-one match inform field names.

However, with the illustrated computing system 20 the user is able topopulate the form in the second application using what the userpreviously filled in for the form in the first application. The formtemplate analyzer 52 advantageously works across different applications.

The form template server 50 includes a private form template database 60and a public form template database 70. The private form templatedatabase 60 includes private form templates 62. The private formtemplates 62 correspond to extracted form templates that were createdwhen the user entered data for previously accessed applications. Overtime, as the user enters data into various displayed forms 46, theprivate form templates 62 are built up in the private form templatedatabase 60.

The private form template 62 from the private form template database 60that matches with the extracted form template 56 is used to populate thedisplayed form 46. This avoids the user from having to enter the samedata, such as a mailing or billing address that has already been enteredby the user for a different form 46.

The public form template database 70 includes public form templates 72.The public form templates 72 include form templates without any userdata. The public form templates 72 correspond to extracted formtemplates that were created when users other than the current userentered data for previously accessed applications.

The public form templates 72 are used to assist the form templateanalyzer 52 with extracting a form template 56 from the screenshot 54.As noted above, the form template analyzer 52 extracts labels and formfield names, and correlates the labels with the form field names. Whenthe form template analyzer 52 analyzes the screenshot 54, a documentobject model (DOM) of the screenshot 54 is analyzed. Depending on theuser interface, it is not always clear which piece of the DOM is a labeland a form field.

The form template analyzer 52 may have already analyzed the samescreenshot even though for a different user. If so, then thecorresponding extracted public form template 72 for the different user(without data) may be used by the form template analyzer 52 to identifythe labels and form field names to be extracted from the currentscreenshot 54.

Once the labels and form field names have been extracted, then thematched public form template 72 may be used as the form templateextracted from the screenshot 54. Since the public form templates 72already have correlated labels and form field names for differentapplications, the form template server 52 does not have to repeat thisstep when the displayed form 46 already has an extracted form templateas determined for a different user having already accessed the sameapplication.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an example private form template 62 thatprovides a user's address data will be discussed. Each private formtemplate include labels, form field names and form field values, withthe form field values corresponding to the data previously filled in forthe user. In this example, the private form template 62 includes labels81, 82, 83; their respective form field names 91, 93, 95; and theirrespective form field values 92, 94, 96. The form field values 92, 94,96 correspond to the user's address data previously filled in for theuser.

In the illustrated example, label 81 corresponds to “street” and theform field value 92 associated therewith is “1630 NE 1^(st) street”.Label 82 corresponds to multiple names including “zip”, “zip code”, and“postal code” and the form field value 94 associated therewith is“33301”. Label 83 corresponds to “city” and the form field value 95associated therewith is “Fort Lauderdale”.

The private form templates 62 may include shared address labels 77 amongthe private form templates 62. The form template server 50 is furtherconfigured to logically group together the different private formtemplates 62 providing the same types of data. The logically groupingshows that there is a repetition of the same data form field valuesbeing entered. Instead of relying on a one-to-one mapping of theextracted form template 56 to one of the private form templates 62, thelogical grouping allows the private form template 62 to be selectedbased on how the form field names match up.

After the form template 56 has been extracted from the screenshot 54,the form template analyzer 52 is to figure out which one of the privateform templates 62 is the right template for the dialog that is to befiled in for the displayed form 46. However, the user might havemultiple form field values for the private form templates 62, such as ahome and work address.

One option is to show the user the both options. Another option is forthe form template analyzer 52 to include a scoring algorithm to pick orsuggest the right data to the user. The scoring algorithm may determinethat over a majority of the time the user enters a work address into theform 46. In this case, the work address is scored higher than the homeaddress.

Yet another option is for the form template analyzer 52 to take intoaccount the context of the user. An example context is a location of theclient device 30. If the client device 30 is at the user's place ofemployment, then the data for the matched private form template 62 wouldbe selected corresponding to the work address instead of the homeaddress. The form template analyzer 52 determines that the likelihood ishigher that the user will be entering data that is more related to theoffice. Location of the client device 30 may be based on a GPS chipwithin the client device 30. If the user's office uses beacontechnology, then the location of the client device may be preciselydetermined based on triangulation. The determined location is thenpassed to the form template analyzer 52.

Another content example is to look at the user's calendar, and based onthe user's activities, this would have a factor on which data for aprivate form template 62 is to be selected. Yet another content exampleis to use a camera to determine facial expression's of the user. If theuser's facial expression are unemotional or intense looking, then theassumption may be made the user is doing office work.

Referring now to the flowchart 200 in FIG. 5, and generally speaking, amethod for populating a form 46 displayed by a client device 30 will bediscussed. From the start (Block 202), the method includes displaying anapplication page 40 with a form 46 to be filled in at Block 204, andgenerating a screenshot 54 of the from 46 at Block 206. A form template62 is provided at Block 208 based on labels and form fields from theform 46. The form template 62 is compared to a form template database 60at Block 210. Data from a matched form template 62 is used at Block 212to populate the form 46. The method ends at Block 214.

Referring now to the flowchart 300 in FIG. 6, more detailed steps forpopulating a form 46 displayed by a client device 30 based on a matchedprivate form template 62 provided by the form template server 50 will bediscussed. From the start (Block 302), the method includes displaying anapplication page 40 with a form 46 to be filled in at Block 304,generating a screenshot 54 of the application page 40 at Block 306, anddetecting the form 46 within the screenshot 54 at Block 308. The labelsand form fields are extracted from the detected form at Block 310. Thelabels are correlated with the form fields at Block 312. A form template62 is extracted at Block 314 based on the correlation. The methodfurther includes comparing the extracted form template 56 to a privateform template database 60 at Block 316, and using data from a matchedprivate form template 62 to populate the form 46 at Block 318. Themethod ends at Block 320.

Another aspect is directed to a method for operating a client computingdevice 30 within a computing system 20 comprising a form template server50 that includes a private form template database 60 comprising aplurality of private form templates 62 from a plurality of differentapplications, with each private form template 62 having different userdata associated therewith previously filled in for a user.

Referring now to the flowchart 400 illustrated in FIG. 7, the methodincludes from the start (Block 402), displaying an application page 40from an application at Block 404, with the application page 40 includinga form 46 requiring data to be filled in by the user. A screenshot 54 ofthe application page 40 is generated at Block 406. The screenshot 54 ofthe application page 40 is transmitted to the form template server 50 atBlock 408. The method further includes receiving, from the form templateserver 50 at Block 410, a matched private form template 72 based on theform template server 50 comparing a form template 56 extracted from thescreenshot 54 to the private form template database 60 for a match. Theform 46 is populated with the data from the matched private formtemplate 72. The method ends at Bock 420.

Many modifications and other embodiments will come to the mind of oneskilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in theforegoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it isunderstood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specificembodiments disclosed, and that modifications and embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

That which is claimed:
 1. A computing system comprising: a client devicehaving a display associated therewith and configured to: display anapplication page from an application, with the application pageincluding a form requiring data to be filled in by a user, and generatea screenshot of the application page; and a form template serverconfigured to: extract a form template from the screenshot, with theextracted form template including labels and form field names withoutform field values, compare the form template extracted from thescreenshot to a private form template database for a match, the privateform template database comprising a plurality of private form templatesfrom a plurality of different applications, with the plurality ofprivate form templates including shared labels, form field names andform field values, and with the form field values corresponding to thedata previously filled in for the user, group together different formfield names corresponding to each shared label, and the compare for thematch includes: matching a label from the extracted form template to oneof the shared labels, and matching the form field name for the labelfrom the extracted form template to one of the form field names in thegrouped together different form field names; said client device furtherconfigured to populate the form on said display with the data from thematched private form template.
 2. The computing system according toclaim 1 wherein the application providing the form being displayed bysaid client device is different from the applications associated withthe private form templates in the private form template database.
 3. Thecomputing system according to claim 1 further comprising a differentclient device operated by the same user, with said different clientdevice having a display and also configured to display the sameapplication page with the same form, generate a screenshot of theapplication page, provide the screenshot to said form template server,and then populate the same form on said display with the data from thesame matched private form template.
 4. The computing system according toclaim 1 wherein said client device comprises an embedded browser, andwherein the application providing the form being displayed by saidclient device comprises a web application that is accessed via theembedded web browser.
 5. The computing system according to claim 1wherein said form template server comprises a form template analyzer toextract the form template from the screenshot.
 6. The computing systemaccording to claim 5 wherein said form template analyzer is configuredto: extract labels and form field names from the form; correlate thelabels with the form field names; and use the correlated labels and formfield names to extract the form template.
 7. The computing systemaccording to claim 5 wherein said form template server includes a publicform template database comprising a plurality of public form templatesfrom the plurality of different applications from different users, witheach public form template including labels and form field names withoutform field values; and wherein said form template analyzer is furtherconfigured to: extract labels and form field names from the form; andmatch the label and form field names to one of the public formtemplates, with the matched public form template to be used as the formtemplate extracted from the screenshot.
 8. The computing systemaccording to claim 1 wherein if more than one private form templatematches the extracted form template, then said form template server isfurther configured to determine a match based on a score having beenassigned to each of the more than one private form matched templates. 9.The computing system according to claim 1 wherein if more than oneprivate form template matches the extracted form template, then saidform template server is further configured to determine a match based ona context of the user operating said client device.
 10. A method foroperating a computing system comprising a client device and a formtemplate server, the method comprising: operating the client device to:display an application page from an application, with the applicationpage including a form requiring data to be filled in by a user, andgenerate a screenshot of the application page; operating the formtemplate server to extract a form template from the screenshot, with theextracted form template including labels and form field names withoutform field values, compare the form template extracted from thescreenshot to a private form template database for a match, the privateform template database comprising a plurality of private form templatesfrom a plurality of different applications, with the plurality ofprivate form templates including shared labels, form field names andform field values, and with the form field values corresponding to thedata previously filled in for the user, group together different formfield names corresponding to each shared label, and the compare for thematch includes: matching a label from the extracted form template to oneof the shared labels, and matching the form field name for the labelfrom the extracted form template to one of the form field names in thegrouped together different form field names; and operating the clientdevice to populate the form being displayed with the data from thematched private form template.
 11. The method according to claim 10wherein the application providing the form being displayed by the clientdevice is different from the applications associated with the privateform templates in the private form template database.
 12. The methodaccording to claim 10 wherein the computing system further comprises adifferent client device operated by the same user, with the differentclient device having a display and also configured to display the sameapplication page with the same form, generate a screenshot of theapplication page, provide the screenshot to the form template server,and then populate the same form on the display with the data from thesame matched private form template.
 13. The method according to claim 10wherein the client device comprises an embedded browser, and wherein theapplication providing the form being displayed by the client devicecomprises a web application that is accessed via the embedded webbrowser.
 14. The method according to claim 10 wherein the form templateserver comprises a form template analyzer to extract the form templatefrom the screenshot.
 15. The method according to claim 14 furthercomprising operating the form template server to: extract labels andform field names from the form; correlate the labels with the form fieldnames; and use the correlated labels and form field names to extract thetemplate.
 16. A method for operating a client computing device within acomputing system comprising a form template server that includes aprivate form template database comprising a plurality of private formtemplates from a plurality of different applications, with each privateform template having different user data associated therewith previouslyfilled in for a user, the method comprising: displaying an applicationpage from an application, with the application page including a formrequiring data to be filled in by the user; generating a screenshot ofthe application page prior to the form being filled in with the data;transmitting the screenshot of the application page to the form templateserver; receiving, from the form template server, a matched private formtemplate based on the form template server comparing a form templateextracted from the screenshot to the private form template database fora match, and in response to more than one private form template matchingthe extracted form template, then the form template server determines amatch based on a score having been assigned to each of the more than oneprivate form matched templates; and populating the form on the displaywith the data from the matched private form template.
 17. The methodaccording to claim 16 wherein the application providing the form beingdisplayed by the client device is different from the applicationsassociated with the private form templates in the private form templatedatabase.
 18. The method according to claim 16 further causing theclient device to perform steps comprising: extracting the form templatefrom the screenshot; and providing the extracted form template to theform template server.
 19. A computing system comprising: a client devicehaving a display associated therewith and configured to: display anapplication page from an application, with the application pageincluding a form requiring data to be filled in by a user, and generatea screenshot of the application page; and a form template serverinterfacing with a public form template database comprising a pluralityof public form templates from a plurality of different applications fromdifferent users, with each public form template including labels andform field names without form field values; said form template serverconfigured to: extract labels and form field names from the form, matchthe label and form field names to one of the public form templates, withthe matched public form template to be used as a form template extractedfrom the screenshot, and compare the form template extracted from thescreenshot to a private form template database for a match, the privateform template database comprising a plurality of private form templatesfrom a plurality of different applications, with each private formtemplate having user data associated therewith previously filled in forthe user; said client device further configured to populate the form onsaid display with the data from the matched private form template.
 20. Amethod for operating a computing system comprising a client device and aform template server, the method comprising: operating the client deviceto: display an application page from an application, with theapplication page including a form requiring data to be filled in by auser, and generate a screenshot of the application page; operating theform template server to interface with a public form template databasecomprising a plurality of public form templates from a plurality ofdifferent applications from different users, with each public formtemplate including labels and form field names without form fieldvalues, extract labels and form field names from the form, match thelabel and form field names to one of the public form templates, with thematched public form template to be used as a form template extractedfrom the screenshot, and compare the form template extracted from thescreenshot to a private form template database for a match, the privateform template database comprising a plurality of private form templatesfrom a plurality of different applications, with each private formtemplate having user data associated therewith previously filled in forthe user; and operating the client device to populate the form beingdisplayed with the data from the matched private form template.
 21. Amethod for operating a client computing device within a computing systemcomprising a form template server that includes a private form templatedatabase comprising a plurality of private form templates from aplurality of different applications, with each private form templatehaving different user data associated therewith previously filled in fora user, the method comprising: displaying an application page from anapplication, with the application page including a form requiring datato be filled in by the user; generating a screenshot of the applicationpage prior to the form being filled in with the data; transmitting thescreenshot of the application page to the form template server;receiving, from the form template server, a matched private formtemplate based on the form template server comparing a form templateextracted from the screenshot to the private form template database fora match, and in response to more than one private form template matchingthe extracted form template, then the form template server determines amatch based on a context of the user operating the client device.